The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1887-07-02
why Hogs Have the Cholera.

A correspondent of the New York Tri-
bune says The fault is less in the hog
than in the food and care. l have been
familiar with the management of swine for
more than forty years, and I know that
more than nine-tenths of our hogs are
stuffed with corn from the time they are
weaned until they are sold, except, perhaps,
for about four months of the summer, when
they are kept on clover pasture. 1t is so
handy to throw corn to the pigs; and they
seem to relish it so well, and fat pig looks
so nice, that the farmers who grow breed
stock, especially, stuff with corn so that at
shipping time the pigs may show well, and
even the more intelligent among them, who
acknowledge that it is wrong say they are
forced to do it or their pigs will not look
so well as those of their neighbors. After
close observation and study for many years,
/ am convinced that the most important
thing to do to escape cholera is to feed less
corn, particularly during the first six months
of the pigs life. At this period fat is not
what we want, as the animal is-or ought
to be-building bone and muscle, and the
food should largely consist of milk, bran,
oats and grass. The pig fed literally on
this diet will develop better than one fed |
on corn, although it may not be so fat or
look quite so well. During hot weather
ground food made into slop is excellent for
pigs, and careful attention should be given
to its preparation. 1t should be mixed
fresh every day and should be fed only
slightly soured. During the hottest
weather it is best to empty the barrel every
day and make new start. and 10 moderate
ly hot weather few gallons may be left to
start new fermentation, but the swill !
should never be allowed TO become so sour
as to offend the nose Even in fattcning
hogs do not think it economical or safe to |
feed all the corn they will cat, and nothing
else with it, and I have found no other
supplementary food so cheap and valuable
as pumpkins.
have never raised pigs on an exclusive
corn diet, as most of my neighbors do, and
[ have never had a case Of cholera, although
it has prevailed on the farms adjoining
mine, and has swept off hogs by the hun
dred in sight of my place. believe that
nine-tenths of the losses of hogs from dis
ease can be traced to three causes, all Of
which are easily within the control of the
breeder. These are; First, breeding
from immature parents; second, an exclu
siye corn Diet third, bad wintering. I'm
der the first head I think there has been a
change for the better in the last few
years; but for many generations nine-tenths
of the hogs were raised from sows bred at
eight months old, and tax of bearing and
sucking their young came at time when
they were not more than half grown and
needed to devote all their energies to their
own development Under sbad wintering,"
/ include not only the fact that the diet is
corn, solely, but also bad sleeping quarters,
the bad usually being either damp or
dusty, and the allowing of large number
of hogs Of different sizes and ages to sleep
together, 50 that the younger and weaker,
which need the best food and care, invari-
ably fare the worst. When pigs are raised
from mature mothers, fed during the first